Jackson Academy

[msaisbandkid]

On 5/12/2022 at 3:39 PM, s1nglewing said:

Everything about current JA reminds me soooo much of Woodland HIlls in the 90's, except that Woodland Hills was never better than mediocre in football

Essentially JA without recruits

[msaisbandkid]

MRA was basically a country school until Madison grew into a wealthy suberb, where MRA grew in enrollment and eventually got really good in athletics and academics. Based on the current state of Madison. I don’t expect that to change. 
 

Prep was always the major power as they were a high school before JA and had the best combination of academics and athletics for years. Academics are still going strong but athletics have been a problem due to the emergence of MRA and Hartfield.

 

JA was the school that used to attract most Madison/Ridgeland/North Jackson families before MRA. They didn’t get a high school until the 80s but they flourished in the small but growing north side market. Now that MRA and Jackson Prep are proven better schools in academics and athletics, JA is losing appeal in everywhere outside of Jackson proper, and the tuition is so high many families won’t be able to pay for it.

 

Hartfield is an interesting case because they will never be able to compete with Prep academically, but have consistently been matching them athletically. Prep added an elementary school to combat Hartfield in their recruiting efforts to compete at an earlier stage. If Prep can win the elementary school battle where athletics don’t matter as much, they won’t have to worry about appealing to middle schoolers who are going solely for sports.

 

Thoughts?

 

[s1nglewing]

55 minutes ago, msaisbandkid said:

Essentially JA without recruits

... except the 2000 season

[longhorn75]

On 5/13/2022 at 4:53 PM, msaisbandkid said:

MRA was basically a country school until Madison grew into a wealthy suberb, where MRA grew in enrollment and eventually got really good in athletics and academics. Based on the current state of Madison. I don’t expect that to change. 
 

Prep was always the major power as they were a high school before JA and had the best combination of academics and athletics for years. Academics are still going strong but athletics have been a problem due to the emergence of MRA and Hartfield.

 

JA was the school that used to attract most Madison/Ridgeland/North Jackson families before MRA. They didn’t get a high school until the 80s but they flourished in the small but growing north side market. Now that MRA and Jackson Prep are proven better schools in academics and athletics, JA is losing appeal in everywhere outside of Jackson proper, and the tuition is so high many families won’t be able to pay for it.

 

Hartfield is an interesting case because they will never be able to compete with Prep academically, but have consistently been matching them athletically. Prep added an elementary school to combat Hartfield in their recruiting efforts to compete at an earlier stage. If Prep can win the elementary school battle where athletics don’t matter as much, they won’t have to worry about appealing to middle schoolers who are going solely for sports.

 

Thoughts?

 

MRA also dramatically changed the culture from being a country school that focused a lot on sports, to having an academic product that they could be considered at a level similar to Prep, St. Andrew's, Madison Central, etc. Then they have some of the top athletic facilities in any high school in Mississippi. If I am a student-athlete, I want to go to a place where I get a great education, and I have top-notch facilities like what MRA has. Not only do they have the geographic advantage, but their academics are top notch and at the best value with exorbitant costs from the other comparable schools. 

 

Hartfield is in the situation that MRA previously was in before Forrest Williams and Herbert Davis took over. They are beginning to even the playing field to an occasional defeat of the powers that be, MRA used to beat Prep and JA once in a while before they began dominating, which is exactly where Hartfield is right now. The question arises though can the Rankin County growth, Hartfield's recruiting benefactors, their high profile coaches, and such, let them leapfrog Prep like MRA leapfrogged JA?

[MadisonReb10]

JA has honestly probably had more top end talent the past few years compared to Prep. Dieon Smith, Dakota Jordan, Walenta, Marcus Harris, Tate Collins who came from Madison Central after getting beat out by Vic Sutton. They’ve had some really good players and couldn’t do much with them. They’ve tapped into JPS far more than any of the others. I know Hartfield had a few the last couple of years.